Category Archives: Easter/Holy Week

Stones and Rocks

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I am layering this post on top of Stone, Rock, and Cornerstone. Rocks have been used for thousands of years to make stone building, jewelry, and weapons. In Genesis we find Jacob using rocks to make memorial stones and piles of stones to bear witness to oaths and treaties. (O, rocks and stones listening to us and then being used to testify about our words; that certainly could be used in creative writing:) The brick pits of Egypt are certainly mentioned, but we miss the fact that some of them worked with jewels when they made Aaron’s priestly garments.

God commissioned a pile of rocks from the Jordan be used as a memorial for teaching His people. He also had definite rules how to handle rocks that were to be used in His worship; no working them with tools, especially metal ones. Metal tools were for war, not for building an altar for God. The altar in Solomon’s Temple was made of olive wood. The blocks for the foundation and walls were worked with tools, but not at the building site. (See 1 Kings 6 and 7) Yes, there seems to be a difference between etz (wood) and rocks.

I started comPILING this post after reading about David and Jonathan by Eben-haezel or the Rock of Ezel, 1 Samuel 20:19. Both of those men had rocks and stones as important parts of their stories. There are many places in the Bible where rocks and stones are important parts of the stories. An example of a type of rock is found in Joshua 5:2 when flint was made into knives for circumcision. A hard, sharp rock for hard attitudes; ever male young than thirty-eight years old had to circumcised. They did not do that while they wandered in the desert, that can open up many questions. Here are a few references to look at.

Easter is in just a few days, so I will take this time to make the case for Jesus, the Rock of our Salvation, becoming our Cornerstone, and the Stone the builders rejected. Rocks are called stones after man has used them for something. Jesus went from our Rock to the Stone after He was beaten and nailed to the cross for us. He is what we have to build our lives on, but the chief priest used Him and then threw Him away.

Judas, Adonijah, Absalom, Man of Lawlessness

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This post comes from my year-through the Bible readings near Easter that included 2 Samuel and 2 Thessalonians. If 2 Samuel was given a modern genre, I think it would be a soap-opera drama. Like all Scripture it was included for instruction. This time when I read through 2 Samuel and 1 Kings, I asked myself if Absalom and Adonijah were types and shadows of someone to come and why was this story included in the Bible.

With Holy Week approaching I went to the person who betrayed someone for monetary gain, Judas. I have a post called Judas in the Old Testament that contains mostly sections of Psalms that relate to how Judas acted. Types and shadows can be hard and may not be agreed on by everyone. Like Absalom and Adonijah, not everything they did may fit 100% with Judas. Yes, I did leave myself a bit of an open door. Joseph’s brothers taking money (Genesis 37:28) is more like Judas than Absalom and Adonijah.

Good studies generate answers, but should also create questions. So, is all of this written in stone in my thinking? No, there are questions and “what if’s” that have come along. That is where 2 Thessalonians comes in, which then took me to Revelations and Genesis. First a little history from 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles and some thoughts on human nature.

In 2 Samuel 3:2 and 1 Chronicles 3:1 we find lists of David’s children. The only timestamp I can find is that these narratives took place in the thirty-three years of David in Jerusalem. Adonijah’s story is at the end of that time. By my count there are twenty children and seven wives listed by name. How many concubines did he have, who knows? According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, concubines were not “wives” but shared the same privileges as one; that was a messy business. So, you have twenty-seven egos and David’s wishes combined with customs and traditions put on display for millions of people to view. A reason for all of this is to show that the progenitor of the Messiah was very human and needed a Savior.

Bathsheba/Bathshua, Solomon, and Nathan are important in the histories of Mary and Joseph. Bathsheba and Solomon are part of the Adonijah story in 1 Kings. Here are the first six children in order minus their mothers. (That’s six wives in seven years.) I would think the mom’s may have had their hands involved in these dramas. David’s extended family (Joab) provide their own drama in 2 Samuel and 1 Kings.   

  1. Amnon (2 Samuel 13 is the start of this soap opera with Absalom.)
  2. Kileab
  3. Absalom
  4. Adonijah (1 Kings 1)
  5. Shephatiah
  6. Ithream

David’s extended family

This was not in my original thinking for this post; this comes from questions and thoughts during my studies. It seems to be popular these days to bash Father Jesse and David’s brothers. Much of the drama in 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles come from his sister’s families; the brothers are all but forgotten.

Zeruiah was David’s aunt, she had three sons Abishai, Joab and Asahel. Joab is a main character in several stories, and he is not a cheery personality in them. Zeruiah, however, is a true standout from the norm. First, she has no husband listed. Abigail, her sister, is married to Jether (a non-Hebrew) and had Amasa (Joab killed his cousin). Jesse was a leader in Judah, so who did Zeruiah marry? David was very conscious of his cousins and their “power” in the family/tribe/community. Normally, listing children by their mother’s name (sons of Zeruiah) was not a good thing; of course, the husband may not have been living. See 1 Chronicles 2:10-17.

Joab is hard to read, he has an agenda, but. He is leader of the army, seems to be for David most of the time, but has no problem eliminating anyone who might stand in his way. With friends and family like him, who needs enemies. He is very easy to think of as a Judas-type, but not in this post.

Judas and his types and shadows have received a lot of my ink in past years. I have heard even more from pastors and teachers, he is never portrayed as a nice guy, but some have edged very close to making excuses for his actions. One person even thought that since God is love, Judas would be forgiven in the end. How special was Jesus? He dealt with Judas for years, even though He knew what he would do.

For some reason I never thought of Judas as just one character in a long line of deceivers and betrayers, he was always an endpoint. 2 Thessalonians and the man of lawlessness is what put Judas in his proper place. I have had a shift in thinking on Absalom and Adonijah. Adonijah and Judas betrayed the promised heir to the kingdom; Absalom, like Satan, went after everything by trying to displace the true king. For me, that adds to the parable in Matthew 21:33, the Parable of the Tenants. Now Judas joins the corrupt priest, who bought the high priest position from Herod, in monetizing the sacrifices to God.

As bad as I have always considered Absalom, now to see him as a type of Satan, he is horrible.

  • He was goodlooking and high favored.
  • He stole most of the people’s hearts from the king by lying.
  • He would have killed his father and anyone that got in the way.
  • He destroyed the lives the ten concubines. I will do some projecting here; the Law, the Ark of the Covenant, and the worship of Yahweh would have been slowly destroyed or allowed to disappeared.

Now I am wondering if Satan tempting Adam and Eve in the Garden was his first open act of rebellion that then went into angels or just one of many.

Where does Judas fit into other parables of Jesus? Is he the bird in the mustard tree? Can you see him as a weed in the wheat field? Judas, Adonijah, Absalom, and the Man of Lawlessness now have a few more layers to their stories.

Bible 911 – Romans

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Romans 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) KJV

GOD HAS A PLAN! In that plan He has used His creations. He chose Noah to repopulate the earth. God used Abram and Sarai to show us faith. He drew Moses out of the water and to the Fire. He selected David while he was watching sheep. Jesus came to earth and died for our sins. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to the Disciples and started the Church. Jesus also picked a Benjamite named Saul to go to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:8). Father God wants us to take His Word to this world.    (See Galatians 1:15 and Ephesians 1:4-14)

An op-ed. Father God loves righteousness and justice. He loves us and this world. He wants to have a righteous relationship (we are talking to and seeking Him) with us. He does not need to be corrected. Our opinions are not greater than His plan, your way needs to fit into His. You may not understand or agree with His plan, but He is still in control. Stop blaming God the Father when your plans are interrupted, no matter how good you think they are (Acts 22:18-19).

Peter had to tell Jesus how things would happen to make him happy. Peter was wrong and did not see the plan of God standing in front of him. After that Peter started a fight, that in the natural he could not win. Lied three times. Went back to his old life of fishing, and had to be asked three times if he would finally follow God’s plan. Which was to love Jesus and take of Jesus’ Sheep.

In the exodus, Moses told the people to love God and serve Him only. The end of Deuteronomy gives the blessings for remaining true to God and then the curses for choosing to follow other gods. How many times from Judges to Jeremiah did Israel not follow that command? His chosen people, the descendants of Abraham and Sarah could have had a righteous relationship with Father God and been protected and made prosperous. Instead, they followed their wants and sacrificed and had fellowship with demons. Christians, we need to learn and not follow that behavior pattern. Who are we glorifying in our actions, programs, and building projects?

I stopped a minute after writing that last paragraph and I believe the Holy Spirit reminded me that God is the Judge of His Body, not us. We need to examine ourselves and remove the logs from our eyes first, then maybe we will see the little splinters in our brothers and sisters’ eyes.

When Jesus taught about His kingdom, he was also showing you parts of the plan. Read Matthew 13 and see His plan in the parables. The Parable of the Seeds speaks very well to Romans 9. The Parable of the Weeds reminds us that not everyone is producing the fruit of God, He will take care of them. I think it is fair to note that the majority of the “seeds” hit good soil, and those weeds are not the entire field.

Doctrines – Of Course

Has religious-man taken Romans 9 and 10 given names to what Paul is talking about and used a lot of ink and paper to expound their thoughts? Of course we have. Am I going to go over all of that? Of course I am not. I do appreciate the effort and study that has been done. You need to know and be able to explain your beliefs.

A quick look at that choosing: Seth to Terah, Abraham to Jospeh, Moses to Jesse, David to Jesus, and all that time God mentioned Gentiles and how He was going to include them. Our mission is to take the Gospel of Jesus to the world and He is responsible for the rest.   

The Lamb

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Jesus was born a baby in a stable and was a king; He was a lamb and the Lion of Judah. He had shepherds and scholars seek Him out to give Him praise. Jesus has many crowns or titles that are His.

My thought for this post came as I was studying Leviticus 8 and 9. These chapters detail the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priest and the first community “church” service at the new Tabernacle. Lambs, rams, and he-goats, animals from the flock, were used in these two chapters. But they were not all for the sin offering. A bull and goat were the offerings for sin, why? I am not sure I have an answer for that question, about those two offerings. The bull was for the priest and the goat was for the people’s offerings. (My feeling is the bull is associated with Egypt and Aaron made a golden calf at Mt. Sinai. The goat would become the offering for the Day of Atonement.)  

It made me think, why is Jesus our sin offering? He is not referred to as a bull or goat and there is no artwork from the Middle Ages, that I can think of, where Jesus is a bull or goat. John the Baptist’s iconic statement stems from Passover, Jesus died at Passover. The first lamb’s blood delivered Israel from the Death Angel, who became prominent after Adam and Eve ate the fruit and allowed him in the world.   

I see another connection to Jesus and the Passover. In The Day of Atonement, Passover, and Epiphany I make the point that Zachariah was offering incense behind the curtain in the Temple, The Day of Atonement. Count out the months and Gabriel went to Mary six months later, Passover. Jesus’ conception was at Passover, He came out in the winter months, Epiphany/Christmas. At the darkest time of the year the “Light of the World” was born.  

I feel these lay a good foundation to discuss Jesus as the Lamb of God.

  • Genesis 22:8 – God provided Abraham with a lamb to replace Issac as an offering.
  • Exodus 12:3 – Take a lamb for your family so the Death Angel will pass over you.
  • Isaiah 53:7 – The lamb did not open His mouth as He was led to the slaughter.
  • John 1:29 – John the Baptist announced Jesus was the Lamb who would take away the sin of the world.
  • Revelation 5:6  And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. (NASB)

Other lamb ideas to consider: 1. Did God clothe Adam and Eve in the Garden with sheepskins? 2. Why was Jesus born in Bethlehem, the house of bread, if He was a lamb? 3. Is Jesus the Lamb of God or the Great Shepherd?

  1. We do not know the exact animal, but it is consistent with the practice that the “flock” would provide sacrificial animals. If this was the first sacrifice, the second one with Abel is also associated with the flock.
  2. Bethlehem was David’s hometown, so that is a big connection. Rachel died near there and Jeremiah announces a horrible act that King Herod would do, the Death of the Innocent. The lambs for Temple use were raised in this area, and those strips of cloth Mary wrapped Jesus in may have been for wrapping those sacrificial lambs. The strips are said to have come from retired vestments of the priest.
  3. Both, Jesus wears more than one crown. He was our Passover Lamb before the Resurrection and our Great Shepherd after He rose from the dead; think Lamb to Great Shepherd like Baby to Lord of all creation. Hebrews 13:20 is the reference that coins the phrase “Great Shepherd”, but there are verses in the Old Testament that foretell this. Micah 5:4 is an example; you may need to check several translations if you are doing a word search.

Our Wonderful Counselor

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The Son will be called Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6).

I am writing this between Easter and Pentecost, this period of time for Jews is known as Counting the Omer, and the Catholic Church is in an “Easter season” on their calendar. Either thought still is the fifty days from Passover to Pentecost. Historically, it is the time from leaving Egypt until the Children reached Mt. Sinai. Some things are recorded that Jesus did in this season, but I believe we were not told half of them. I think this time was the Master’s mini-lesson for His leaders. Yes, He left (ascended) after forty days.

Hebrew Mentions of the Counselor

The Complete Jewish Bible, the Orthodox Jewish Bible, and the concordances I use all seem to have a slightly different take on how to spell things. (God bless translators!) That can take a little getting used to but the message is the same and very clear. The idea of counselor really hit this home.  

H3289 is yaats or yoetz and ish etzah H 6098 are terms I ran across in this study. Besides Isaiah 9:6, I spent some time with 40:13. 40:13 is quoted by Paul in Romans 11:34. All of this highlights the importance of wisdom and advice in the Jewish culture.

The Tree of Life Biblical | Tree of Life in Bible – Hebrewversity  One takeaway from this article was tree or etz is very much like the word etzah or advice, H6098.

The Hebrews who wrote the New Testament had the same values; they were just writing them in Greek. In Romans 11:34 Paul used the word symboulos G4825 for counselor or advisor. Yes, it looks like our word symbiote, so it implies a long-term relationship.

Parakletos or Paraclete

Pentecost is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit. It is also the birthday of the Church or the beginning of gathering the Bride of Christ. The Apostle John uses Paraclete five times in his writing: John 14:16, 26, 15:26, 16:7, and 1 John 2:1. Strong’s Greek: 3875. παράκλητος (paraklétos) — called to one’s aid (biblehub.com) This article mentions three Gospel references of when Jesus states that the Spirit will do what John declared on Thursday of Holy Week: Matthew 10:19 + 20, Mark 13:11, Luke 12:11 + 12. These tell when Jesus said that arrests were coming, but the Holy Spirit would speak through them. In other words, He would be their lawyer, counselor, or helper. Back to John. 

John 13 is the beginning of Jesus’ last meal on Thursday. Chapters 14, 15, and 16 are in the Upper Room or in the Garden outside of Jerusalem. They contain important teachings about the Holy Spirit. It is better to read the verses in context so as to get the full effect.

  • c+17 Jesus will ask for the Spirit of Truth to be sent to believers.
  • John 14:26 + 27 This Counselor will instruct us and give us peace. The Father will send Him in the name or power of Jesus.
  • John 15:26 He will testify the truth about Jesus.
  • John 16:7 If Jesus does not leave (dies on the cross, resurrects, and ascends) the Paraclete will not come. Verses 7 -16 explain what the Spirit will do. Verse 15 has a word in it that John uses thirty-two times in his Gospel, emos. It is translated “mine” and is associated with Jesus giving things to us.
  • 1 John 2:1 This verse is about Jesus advocating for us before the Father.

The Holy Spirit is here on earth helping us to do the work here. Jesus is in Heaven helping us there.

Our Wonderful Counselor is for us, is here to help us, and has a good plan for us. The thing I have found about counselors, they can only help if you let them and follow their advice. This implies that you have to let Our Wonderful Counselor in so He can get close, and you get to know Him.